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The warm butternut squash salad with smoked Blue Haze cheese, oyster mushrooms, kale and a pear vinaigrette sounds comforting, though definitely not classic. Walti created it and is eager to show it off.

The salad has multiple parts and so takes a bit of work, but it’s a showcase vegetarian meal.

Before we get to the cooking lesson, a gender-related word about Walti.

She’s a female executive chef in a profession still dominated by men. She’s just 28. And even more rare in her level of chefdom, she’s a new mom — daughter Abigail is barely 7 months old.

“It’s difficult having a kid and running a kitchen,” Walti says cheerfully. Her childcare situation works because she does the Citizen’s dinner shift, her husband Andrew Wilson works the lunch shift at SpeakEasy 21, and her sister-in-law is an at-home mom who helps care for Abigail.

Still, babies are tough no matter how much help you have. And the spacious Citizen, with seating for 197, is quite a handful.

Yet Walti crackles with energy as she pulls together her family-style salad. She has written down the recipe (a rare thing for a chef to do, believe it or not), although she of course prefers to cook by feel.

For every ingredient, there is a reason.

On Bosc pears: “They’re softer and hold up their pear flavour a lot.”

On using unpeeled pears: “They contain fibre and pectin and thicken your dressing without having to add an emulsifier like mustard.”

On grapeseed oil: “It takes on the flavours of what you’re cooking and it has a higher smoke point than olive oil.”

On using raw kale: “The key to working with kale raw is you really want to break it up by massaging it.”

“It’s funny — we massage a lot of our food,” says Walti. “We massage our biscuits, too. The guys are like, ‘All of our food gets massaged, chef. When do we get a massage?’ ”

Walti oversees one sous chef and five cooks. They’re all men and include two sets of brothers.

She has always lived a foodcentric life, growing up in Toronto with parents who cooked and kept a vegetable garden, summering in Switzerland where her grandfather owned a restaurant.

She paid for university by bartending and cooking.

“My goal was I wanted to work every station, so I was a busser, server, bartender, dishwasher, breakfast cook and prep cook.”

She fell in love with cooking, realizing “you need to be organized, be good at logistics, have a lot of self control, and use a lot of science and math.”

Walti has been, among other things, chef de cuisine at Origin on King St. and line cook at the Drake Hotel.

“Stress freaks, perfectionists, OCD people,” is how she describes her chef tribe.

The Citizen, owned by “an anonymous group of investors,” aims to be a neighbourhood hangout.

“This is a place for the citizen — the regular, average Joe citizen,” explains Walti.

The salad — created during Toronto’s longest, coldest winter — is a big seller and popular with “guys and women alike.”

Guys gravitate to the crispy kale and smoky blue cheese. Women like having a healthier option that eats like a meal.

Alas, Walti will yank it from the seasonal menu by the Victoria Day weekend.

For dressing, in small saucepan, heat 1 tsp (5 mL) oil over medium. Add shallots. Cook 2 minutes until translucent. Add pears; raise heat to high. When very hot, add vinegar. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring often, until pears are apple-sauce consistency and almost sticking to bottom of pan, 30 to 40 minutes, adding water as needed if it gets too dry.

Transfer mixture to blender or food processor. With machine running, slowly add in remaining 1/2 cup (125 mL) oil until mixture is a thick vinaigrette (almost like Caesar salad dressing). Season with salt to taste. Place in squeeze bottle. Refrigerate until ready to use. Makes about 1 cup (250 mL).

If making crispy kale, lay kale pieces on parchment-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with oil on both sides; rub in by hand. Sprinkle with salt. Bake in preheated 300F (150C) oven until starting to get crisp, about 30 minutes. Kale will continue to crisp as it cools.

For squash salad, toss squash with oil, salt and pepper. Spread in even layer on parchment-lined baking sheet. Roast in preheated 350F (180C) oven until soft and lightly golden, testing with a toothpick, about 20 to 30 minutes depending on size of your pieces.

In large, lightly oiled, preferably cast-iron skillet heated over medium-high, cook mushrooms until crispy and golden, about 3 minutes per side. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate.

In large bowl, massage raw curly kale by hand for several minutes to soften.

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